What started as a tragic story Down Under ended happily when a dressage-caliber female horse “adopted” a newborn colt abandoned by its own mom.
In Victoria, Australia, last November, a gorgeous Dutch warmblood named Jazzabelle (or Jazzy) bore a stillborn calf to Melbourne-based breeder Sarah Brayshaw, who was subsequently crestfallen by the ill-fated birth.
Brayshaw had known heartbreak sometimes accompanied her profession but was devastated nevertheless when it happened in her stable. The poor mother, Jazzy, then took ill herself and nearly passed away from a serious post partum infection.
Two days later, Brayshaw received a phone call out of the blue from Louisa Smith, advising that a client of hers, Leigh Church, also a horse owner, had a heartbreaking story of her own to tell….